[12/04/06]
Sybase iAnywhere announced the latest version of RFID Anywhere, the company's software infrastructure that provides an extensible environment for developing and managing robust, highly distributed sensor network applications including RFID solutions.
RFID Anywhere 3.0 breaks new ground with the delivery of a context-aware Location Information System.
Using RFID Anywhere, businesses can track assets from a range of data collection points [such as passive RFID, active RFID, real-time location systems (RTLS), barcode, global positioning systems (GPS) and environmental sensors], and can dramatically enhance the value of this data by associating environmental inputs (e.g., temperature) along with the location data. In addition, the RFID Anywhere 3.0 Location Information System exposes its complete feature set via a rich service oriented architecture (SOA) web services layer allowing organizations to easily transform static business information into business-aware intelligence.
"We're seeing that companies are looking for a single solution that gives them the ability not only to track their assets, but also to provide business context to them," said Martyn Mallick, director of RFID and Mobile Solutions, iAnywhere. "RFID Anywhere's Location Information System is able to add location awareness and business intelligence to the sensor network, providing context-sensitive, real-time views of the enterprise."
"One of the key areas of concerns for early adopters of RFID is how to make intelligent business decisions based on the massive amount of data created by RFID. The enhancements made to Sybase's RFID software platform address this issue and provides an increased level of value by combining RFID into an intelligent sensor network," said Curtis Price, Program Director at IDC. "Asset tracking is one of the applications that IDC believes is driving early deployments of RFID, and the new release of RFID Anywhere provides a common infrastructure for managing and tracking assets, as well as obtaining contextual information from the data collected in a sensor network. This allows businesses to derive greater value by making better informed decisions."
Context-Aware Location Services in Action The ability to enhance location information with business context is desired in applications including asset tracking, asset control and resource management across vertical solutions in healthcare, logistics, cold-chain, and warehouse management environments. Examples include:
A produce distributor can correlate the temperature of its goods along with location and time data to know exactly where and for how long a given item was exposed to certain environmental conditions such as temperature or humidity. This information allows these organizations to make real-time decisions regarding the distribution of the goods to reduce spoilage, thereby increasing profits.
A hospital admission system can be enhanced to allow tracking of patients with contagious diseases and the ability to identify other patients and staff with whom the infected patients may have recently come in contact with. This would help a hospital prevent the transmission of the disease.
A handheld inventory management system in a pharmaceutical distribution center can now not only determine how much inventory is on hand, but can also identify the physical location of the asset and determine which pharmaceuticals expire first. By having the handheld device provide the location element of the data, the system can incorporate location information while leveraging the existing barcode or passive RFID network thereby reducing overall project costs.
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